Location
Austria, Styria, Graz
Alte Galerie, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Inv.-Nr. P 270, not exhibited
Artwork
Relief Assumption of Mary, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Alte Galerie, Inv.-Nr. P 270
Type
Relief
Dimensions
Height: 136 cm, width: 89 cm, depth: 4 cm
Critical History
The relief was a present from Rudolf von Wachtler to the Joanneum in 1874. Wilhelm Suida1 first published the relief in 1923 and attributed it to Philipp Jakob Straub comparing it with the reliefs in the Diözesanmuseum Graz from the pulpit of the parish church Hl. Blut. Georg Gerlach2 mentioned it belonging to the pulpit of the church Hl. Blut (1931). Horst Schweigert3 contradicts that opinion, because the subject does not have connection with a pulpit. Karl Garzarolli-Thurnlackh4 and Kurt Woisetschläger5 attributed it also to Philipp Jakob Straub in the inventory of the Alte Galerie. Christine Rabensteiner attributes it hereby to the workshop of Philipp Jakob Straub and dates it circa 1760 – 1770.
The anatomical knowledge of the master is not as good as Straub’s sculptures show. Some details of the (ten) apostles are not in good proportion, the perspective of the sarcophagus is false. The relief could have been the uppermost part of an altar.
Construction / Execution
The board consists of three vertically glued boards, on the left and right side there were fixed one narrow strip on each side, numerous insertions and attachments (large piece in the centre of the lower part) can be seen from the front side, as well from the back.
Presumably the panel initially had a different appearance and framing, which would explain the lower attachment. The current framework has probably emerged in the course of the revision.
Components
- Sculpture
- Author: (workshop) Philipp Jakob Straub
- Completed: 1760 – 1770
- Technique(s): wood carving
- Material(s): limewood
- Polychromy
- Author: (workshop) Philipp Jakob Straub
- Completed: 1760 – 1770
Conservation-restoration
- 2018
Treatment Description
Historic glueing of holes on the back with wood and linen fabric
The board is cradled on the back: for this the board was thinned before the glueing of the vertical narrow strips took place. The horizontal boarding strips are partly loose, and are blocking partially
The panel was enlarged in the middle of the lower part.
After reducing the gilding and all ground layers the panel was browned as whole and framed new around 1880. The panel remains in this condition until today.
Images
- Relief Assumption of Mary, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Alte Galerie (photo by Nicolas Lackner, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, 2018)
Catalogue entry prepared by Paul-Bernhard Eipper and Christine Rabensteiner
Recommended citation: Paul-Bernhard Eipper and Christine Rabensteiner, Relief Assumption of Mary, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Alte Galerie, Inv.-Nr. P 270, in: TrArS – Tracing the Art of the Straub Family, 2018, (accessed 14/11/2025) URL
